Chapter 1





I jolt awake, still under the covers of my bed. A terrible dream had woken me up, but I can't lose strength based on my imagination. I have a long day ahead of me, after all.

My name is Alex, and I am fourteen. You could say that I am pitied by many, living in a small home in the outskirts of town by myself. But I believe that I have lived a good life, going to school for my whole life and learning everything there is to know about my world. Today, though, we have the final practical tests at the end of ten years of school. These tests come once a year for all the fourteen year olds in my colony, that day is a holiday known as Reckoning Day.

Am I sorry to say that mine is today? I don't know, but I am afraid of what is to come. The tests are grueling, showing our abilities to fight monsters, how to survive with nothing in the wild, and knowing the recipes to craft so many tools and supplies. I have studied so much, and my years as a child living in my designated home with nothing to do but school are over. I must succeed my tests because after them, your job is assigned and you must work for your home.

I sit up in my mahogany house. It isn't that big, but none of the houses are big on the outskirts of Imperial Plains. I only own the necessities to my survival up to this point; emeralds to buy supplies, and food given out to the children. In my city, the children are never to live with their parents. All the newborns are shunted away to an orphanage, and once they are eight years old they are given a property to live in for six more years.

I'm leaving today though. All of my supplies that I don't bring with me in my backpack will be transported to my new home tomorrow. It's almost sad how I have to leave this house on Sandstone Street. My street goes all the way into the center of the city, so it will be easy to navigate my way to the tests.

I stand up at the side of my bed and grab my essentials. Food, obviously, is necessary, so I pack a bunch of cooked pork and some apples. I also grab a map and a compass, just in case there is a navigation test. I take my stone sword, a stone pickaxe, a stone axe, a stone shovel, and a stone hoe. I make sure that I have my leather armor hat as well. I take a bucket of water and an empty bucket, leaving all my papers and building materials. Finally, I grab my book, unwritten and packaged with an ink sac. My plan is to keep a journal of my life as an adult in Imperial Plains from now on, so I make sure that I have something to write with.

I stand back up and close my chest up. My little home, I guess I will be leaving it at last. Tomorrow, an eight year old will be given the property to live in and everything I left there. Only a few supplies and some apples that I have no need for, but I thought it was a good start when I moved in to find some wood and two melon slices.

I fix my leather cap to the top of my head and step out into the morning air. I would guess that many people will be filtering out of their homes into the city square in about an hour, and all the fourteen year olds will want to be there before then so that we can check in for the tests without having to weave between a bunch of farmers and miners. So with that final thought and a look back at my house, I advance down the long road to the town square.

Sandstone Street stretches from the town square all the way out to the city limits. Anyone who was brought up in Imperial Plains rarely leaves the city, though. The governor might take a couple guards with him to visit a distant colony to negotiate trades every once in a while, but never for longer than two days. It would be unwise to leave the town with no legal reason; the wilds are a rough place. Sure, the government teaches us how to survive in school, but never does anyone ever expect to have to use those skills for themselves. The edges of the town are protected by fortifiers, people whose job is to make sure no monsters enter the city.

The streets are beginning to fill with people coming to the town square for the tests. I keep my head down, not wanting to draw attention. I know that after today, I will finally be one of them.

At last, I reach the end of Sandstone Street and step into the town square. There is a small desk with one of the teachers for all of the fourteen year olds to check in. I see a border just outside the desk, presumably to keep all the spectators out of the way. Behind the desk is a staircase that leads underground, and a few meters past that is one that leads back up.

I reach an opening in the border fence and slip through, settling in line behind the rest of the fourteen year olds. It is only at this point that I realize how nervous I am. One slip in my tests and I could end up having a different job completely. But I push those thoughts out of my mind as the last person in front of me steps aside.

"My name is Alex, I'm checking in for the Reckoning Day tests," I told the receptionist. She flipped through a paper, presumably holding the names of the fourteen year olds, and when she found my name she scratched me out. A step aside and follow where the girl in front of me had gone.

There is a line of chairs, each bearing the name of all the fourteen year olds. No one gets their last name until they have completed the Reckoning Day tests, though the process in which you earn yours is held completely secret. I find the seat marked Alex and slide into it.

The only thing to do now is to wait for all the rest of the fourteen year olds. I drum my fingers impatiently. I could go with someone to talk to, but neither of the people sitting next to me has checked in yet, their names are 'Adam' and 'Alison'. Even when they do sit down, I find myself not wanting to talk anymore as I think about what is in store for me.

At last, the last person has taken her seat in the long line of fourteen year olds, and the governor steps forward to a stand where he has a speech waiting for him. Every year at this time, he addresses the fourteen year olds as children becoming men and women.

"Hello, Imperial City! It seems the day has come again to determine what our brethren will do as the shift into being adults," he begins, raising a hand in greeting. "It has been a long time, a time so long that the city records are unable to keep the exact date in which there was the first Reckoning Day.

"Every year, all the fourteen year olds in the City would come to the town square to receive a number of tests determining their qualities and traits, and therefore where they were to work as they became adults. The new fourteen year olds would also receive their last name as to not confuse them with others.

"So today, that day is upon us again where our new children are received the job of farmer, electrician, fortifier, law-maker, builder, forger, miner, or to become one of the Royal Guard. The new fourteen year olds will be called five at a time to begin their tests, so let Reckoning Day begin!" he concluded, to the applause of all the people who had now shown up. The governor grabbed piece of paper, and read off the first five names; "Adam, Alex, Alison, Beatrice, and Ben, please enter the stairway and good luck!" The crowd roared their approval as the five of us got in a single file line and headed down the stairs. At this point, I was truly shaking.

As we entered the room at the bottom of the stairs, Beatrice gasped. The room was immense, with a glass chamber separating each test from the next. In this first room, a person was waiting for us. "If you could all split up into your respective test rooms, that would be good," she said, and there were four doors on the side of the hall that were emblazoned with our names, telling us where to go. Allison stayed in the first chamber, while everyone else took their door.

I stepped through mine into a room identical to the first. It was then that I noticed that on this side of the glass barrier, all there was to be seen was a written test on a desk. I sat down and brandished my pencil, nodding hello to the tester situated in the room. "You may begin," she said quietly, and I looked at the first question. Is it possible for any hostile mobs to spawn on glass? Why is this useful to know? This was easy. No, they cannot. It is useful to understand this so that you have an added precaution when creating greenhouses.

I worked relentlessly on the test, and when the last of the thirty questions was complete, the tester beckoned me to go through the door in the glass chamber.

There were three practical tests. The first was to design a building that was safe from all mobs except the creeper with two stacks of wooden planks. I made a 5x4 home that was four meters tall with overhangs on the side so that it was safe from spiders. I hopefully received a good grade.

The next was to escort a tester through an obstacle course with a foam sword. There were various obstacles like trees and such, but also testers dressed up as different hostile mobs that you had to hit in their weak spots to kill. I passed this with flying colors. Fighting had always been easy for me.

The last of the practical tests a logic test. You started out with ten emeralds and a stack of coal, leather, and wheat. You also received a crafting table. The goal was to end up with fifty emeralds by trading before the end of ten minutes. I'm sure there was some very simple solution, but it took me nine minutes to pass.

At the end of this test, I entered a door at the end of the hall labeled Naming Ceremonies. There, I saw the long line of chairs again, but they must have been duplicates since they were empty. I sat down in mine, and Ben was already seated. The other three hurried over and sat in their respective seats. "Adam," a voice said, and the door at the end of the room slowly creaked open. He stood up and marched in and closed the door again. I waited about five minutes until my name was called.

Stepping through the door, I looked around, expecting to see a nothing. Instead, there was a pedestal at the center of the room and an assortment of blocks surrounding it. There was a tester waiting for me at the pedestal. I stepped up.

"The nature of this test is much different from the others," the tester said. "This one is much affected by luck, but prophecies exist to the meaning of a name that a name shall take."

I didn't get what he said. "The blocks will spin around the pedestal and you will be blindfolded. Once they have stopped spinning, you will take this knife and walk forward until you reach the block that you have walked toward. Then you will cut your arm once, and hold the blood over the block to drip on." The tester held out a blindfold for me.

I fastened it around my eyes and waited, knife in hand. There was the sound of a machine rotating, and when it had subsided, the tester said "Go."

I walked forward, not knowing what I would choose. When the tester said "Cut.", I stopped in my tracks and dug the knife into my arm and held it over whatever was in front of me.

"Glowstone. The honorable and holy, those who will fight for their cause. That is who you have joined, my young one. You may remove your blindfold."

I did, and before me shone a large rock that was emitting a strange yellow light. I smiled and walked out of the chamber, thinking of my new name: Alex Glowstone.

The end of this chamber led to a staircase, and before I knew it I was standing in the town square again. The crowd roared as I stepped out into the light. I could see the long line of fourteen year olds waiting, about twenty of the seats vacant.

"This is Alex Glowstone. May he share his inner light with all of us as he continues his career as a Royal Guardsman!" the governor announced.

There was cheering of the crowd as I stood there, dumbfounded. I was in the Royal Guard, one of the toughest groups to get into! Their function was to keep law straight within the City and to protect the governor and his family. This was amazing! I practically skipped over to the large group of them at the edge of the crowd.

From there, I watched into nightfall as many more fourteen year olds were chosen. Only two others were given the honor of becoming Royal Guardsmen: a boy named Jack Obsidian and a girl named Monica Emerald.

At the end of the ceremonies, the Royal Guardsmen moved with a surprising speed that we new members had to keep up with. We reached a large building opposite on the street to the governor's mansion. All the members jogged in through the doors and took stairs up to the floors, labeled by age. Ours was the second floor, the first being a lobby and food area. There were five dormitories off from the hallway, and three were already labeled with our names. I was so tired, I couldn't talk much, so I just headed into my dormitory without taking anything in, and dropped my backpack next to my bed and slipped under the covers, hoping for a long nights' rest.

Thanks guys! This is the continuation of the series of stories called "The Sight Of Minecraftia", so constructive criticism helps a lot! See you guys later! And Don't forget to diamond, and favorite this story, as it took me a while to read it (You can guess how long it took me)!

Sincerely,

AreoDynamic